Today is the Thai New Year celebration which can be considered the World's Largest Water Fight. I have written about this holiday numerous times over the years including a brief account of my first Songkran in 2006 and a report on the recent stamps released to commemorate the festival. I only took a few photos … Continue reading Songkran Festival 2023
Thailand Holidays & Festivals
Loy Krathong: Thailand’s Most Beautiful Festival
Tomorrow, 8 November 2022, is Loy Krathong (ลอยกระทง) which is widely considered the most beautiful of the many festivals which are celebrated in Thailand. Along with Songkran (Thai New Year), it is considered to be the most important festival celebrated here. It is held on the night of the 12th lunar moon of the Thai … Continue reading Loy Krathong: Thailand’s Most Beautiful Festival
Daily Phuket #39: 13 April 2021 – Blue Elephant
Happy Songkran Day! It is the Thai New Year, usually at least a three-day celebration that in years previous to 2020 would become a nationwide massive water fight. With the current pandemic outbreak, public gatherings have been banned so it was just a day like any other. I did force myself to get out of … Continue reading Daily Phuket #39: 13 April 2021 – Blue Elephant
Happy Loy Krathong
Today is the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar. As such, the evening is being celebrated as Loy Krathong here in Thailand. Held throughout Thailand and Laos as well as a couple of small areas in Myanmar, Malaysia, and the extreme southern portion of Yunnan in China Loy Krathong … Continue reading Happy Loy Krathong
Loy Krathong 2014
The full moon of 6th November 2014 marks this year’s celebration of Loy Krathong, for my money Thailand’s most colorful holiday. This is when you float your troubles away on a small boat (krathong) made out of the trunk of a banana tree and decorated with banana leafs and bright flowers. Large krathongs are also … Continue reading Loy Krathong 2014
New Year #2: Chinese New Year & Phuket Old Town Festival 2014
In late January and early February, those of us in Phuket look forward to the year’s second big New Year’s blow-out. There is a huge Chinese population centered on Phuket Town. Many of the older families began during the tin-mining boom starting in the mid-nineteenth century and their clan shrines still dot the small lanes … Continue reading New Year #2: Chinese New Year & Phuket Old Town Festival 2014
Colorful Countdown Phuket 2014 Photo Album
Colorful Countdown Phuket 2014 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL
New Year #1: Phuket Countdown 2014
One of the best things about living in Thailand are the myriad of festivals and other celebrations throughout the year. We actually have three different annual New Year’s – the Western New Year on 31 December, Chinese New Year in late January or early February, and Songkran (Thai New Year) centered on 13 April. Now … Continue reading New Year #1: Phuket Countdown 2014
Happy Loy Krathong
Today is Loy Krathong, perhaps the most coqlorful of all the traditional Thai festivals. I have always enjoyed making the krathong (literally, "floating decorations") with my students and then setting them adrift in the evening. It really is beautiful to see all of the floating banana-tree rounds decorated with banana leaves, flowers and lit candles … Continue reading Happy Loy Krathong
VegFest 2013: The Grand Finale
The 2013 Phuket Vegetarian Festival ended with a bang (many, many, many bangs) this past Sunday night. Well, I should say, it lasted until the wee hours of Monday morning. I’d met up with friends Jade and Lily, plus their Thai boyfriends, around 7pm at Surin Circle. It was their first time to experience the … Continue reading VegFest 2013: The Grand Finale
Mark Joseph Jochim 